diff --git a/src/renderer/src/components/editor/isolated-markdown-extension-for-tests.ts b/src/renderer/src/components/editor/isolated-markdown-extension-for-tests.ts
index 786274af072..2576bb31b21 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/components/editor/isolated-markdown-extension-for-tests.ts
+++ b/src/renderer/src/components/editor/isolated-markdown-extension-for-tests.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
-import { RichMarkdownExtension } from './rich-markdown-extension'
+import { createRichMarkdownExtension } from './rich-markdown-extension'
 import { createRichMarkdownEditorCodec } from './rich-markdown-source-transport'
 
 export function createIsolatedMarkdownExtensionForTests() {
-  return RichMarkdownExtension.configure({
-    marked: createRichMarkdownEditorCodec().marked,
+  const codec = createRichMarkdownEditorCodec()
+  return createRichMarkdownExtension(codec).configure({
+    marked: codec.marked,
     markedOptions: { gfm: true }
   })
 }
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/components/editor/rich-markdown-extension.test.ts b/src/renderer/src/components/editor/rich-markdown-extension.test.ts
index e1ebc9b4c99..d7a4a3646fb 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/components/editor/rich-markdown-extension.test.ts
+++ b/src/renderer/src/components/editor/rich-markdown-extension.test.ts
@@ -24,32 +24,38 @@ describe('Markdown source compatibility without a DOM', () => {
     }
   )
 
-  it.each(['**literal**', '[literal](./example.md)'])(
-    'keeps typed formatting syntax %j literal after saving and reopening',
-    (text) => {
-      const editor = new Editor({
+  it.each([
+    '**literal**',
+    '[literal](./example.md)',
+    '![image](./image.png)',
+    '[literal][ref]',
+    '`[literal]`',
+    '[literal] _emphasis_',
+    String.raw`\[literal\]`,
+    '<script>alert(1)</script> [literal]'
+  ])('keeps typed formatting syntax %j literal after saving and reopening', (text) => {
+    const editor = new Editor({
+      element: null,
+      extensions: [StarterKit, createIsolatedMarkdownExtensionForTests()],
+      content: '',
+      contentType: 'markdown'
+    })
+    try {
+      editor.commands.insertContentAt(1, { type: 'text', text })
+      const reopened = new Editor({
         element: null,
         extensions: [StarterKit, createIsolatedMarkdownExtensionForTests()],
-        content: '',
+        content: editor.getMarkdown(),
         contentType: 'markdown'
       })
       try {
-        editor.commands.insertContentAt(1, { type: 'text', text })
-        const reopened = new Editor({
-          element: null,
-          extensions: [StarterKit, createIsolatedMarkdownExtensionForTests()],
-          content: editor.getMarkdown(),
-          contentType: 'markdown'
-        })
-        try {
-          expect(reopened.getText()).toBe(text)
-          expect(reopened.getJSON()).toEqual(editor.getJSON())
-        } finally {
-          reopened.destroy()
-        }
+        expect(reopened.getText()).toBe(text)
+        expect(reopened.getJSON()).toEqual(editor.getJSON())
       } finally {
-        editor.destroy()
+        reopened.destroy()
       }
+    } finally {
+      editor.destroy()
     }
-  )
+  })
 })
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/components/editor/rich-markdown-extension.ts b/src/renderer/src/components/editor/rich-markdown-extension.ts
index 2eb8940f560..c36c692b4b9 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/components/editor/rich-markdown-extension.ts
+++ b/src/renderer/src/components/editor/rich-markdown-extension.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 import { Markdown } from '@tiptap/markdown'
+import { preserveLiteralMarkdownSource } from './rich-markdown-literal-serialization'
+import type { RichMarkdownEditorCodec } from './rich-markdown-source-transport'
 
 export const RichMarkdownExtension = Markdown.extend({
   onBeforeCreate(event) {
@@ -12,3 +14,15 @@ export const RichMarkdownExtension = Markdown.extend({
     }
   }
 })
+
+export function createRichMarkdownExtension(
+  codec: RichMarkdownEditorCodec,
+  htmlSuperscriptLinks = false
+) {
+  return RichMarkdownExtension.extend({
+    onBeforeCreate(event) {
+      this.parent?.(event)
+      preserveLiteralMarkdownSource(this.editor, codec, htmlSuperscriptLinks)
+    }
+  })
+}
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/components/editor/rich-markdown-extensions.ts b/src/renderer/src/components/editor/rich-markdown-extensions.ts
index 2dca4f05b57..9a4f292f042 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/components/editor/rich-markdown-extensions.ts
+++ b/src/renderer/src/components/editor/rich-markdown-extensions.ts
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import { TableCell } from '@tiptap/extension-table-cell'
 import { TableHeader } from '@tiptap/extension-table-header'
 import { TableRow } from '@tiptap/extension-table-row'
 import { BlockMath, InlineMath } from '@tiptap/extension-mathematics'
-import { RichMarkdownExtension } from './rich-markdown-extension'
+import { createRichMarkdownExtension } from './rich-markdown-extension'
 import { createLowlight, common } from 'lowlight'
 import {
   acquireLocalImageSrcLease,
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ export function createRichMarkdownExtensions({
     createRawMarkdownHtmlBlock(codec.transport),
     createMarkdownDocLink(codec.transport),
     DragSelectionGuard,
-    RichMarkdownExtension.configure({
+    createRichMarkdownExtension(codec, htmlSuperscriptLinks).configure({
       marked: codec.marked,
       markedOptions: {
         gfm: true
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/components/editor/rich-markdown-literal-serialization.test.ts b/src/renderer/src/components/editor/rich-markdown-literal-serialization.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0589a6abe27
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/renderer/src/components/editor/rich-markdown-literal-serialization.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+import { Editor, type JSONContent } from '@tiptap/core'
+import StarterKit from '@tiptap/starter-kit'
+import { describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
+import { createIsolatedMarkdownExtensionForTests } from './isolated-markdown-extension-for-tests'
+
+function createEditor(content: JSONContent | string) {
+  return new Editor({
+    element: null,
+    extensions: [StarterKit, createIsolatedMarkdownExtensionForTests()],
+    content,
+    ...(typeof content === 'string' ? { contentType: 'markdown' as const } : {})
+  })
+}
+
+function paragraph(text: string): JSONContent {
+  return { type: 'paragraph', content: [{ type: 'text', text }] }
+}
+
+function expectReopens(editor: Editor) {
+  const reopened = createEditor(editor.getMarkdown())
+  try {
+    expect(reopened.getJSON()).toEqual(editor.getJSON())
+  } finally {
+    reopened.destroy()
+  }
+}
+
+describe('literal Markdown serialization', () => {
+  it.each(['[ref]: ./target.md', '[ref]: <./target.md> "Title"'])(
+    'preserves literal references across blocks with definition %j',
+    (definition) => {
+      const editor = createEditor({
+        type: 'doc',
+        content: [paragraph('[literal][ref] and [ref]'), paragraph(definition)]
+      })
+      try {
+        expectReopens(editor)
+      } finally {
+        editor.destroy()
+      }
+    }
+  )
+
+  it('reuses unchanged blocks but revalidates edited syntax', () => {
+    const editor = createEditor({
+      type: 'doc',
+      content: [paragraph('[literal]'), paragraph('[[]]')]
+    })
+    const parse = vi.spyOn(editor.markdown!, 'parse')
+    try {
+      expect(editor.getMarkdown()).toBe('[literal]\n\n[[]]')
+      expect(parse).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2)
+      editor.getMarkdown()
+      expect(parse).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2)
+      editor.commands.insertContentAt(10, { type: 'text', text: '(./target.md)' })
+      const saved = editor.getMarkdown()
+      expect(parse).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(3)
+      expect(saved).toContain('\\[literal\\]')
+      expectReopens(editor)
+    } finally {
+      parse.mockRestore()
+      editor.destroy()
+    }
+  })
+
+  it('keeps upstream escaping when the parser cannot validate a block', () => {
+    const editor = createEditor('[[]]')
+    const upstream = editor.markdown!.serialize(editor.getJSON())
+    const parse = vi.spyOn(editor.markdown!, 'parse').mockImplementation(() => {
+      throw new Error('custom parser failure')
+    })
+    try {
+      expect(editor.getMarkdown()).toBe(upstream)
+    } finally {
+      parse.mockRestore()
+      editor.destroy()
+    }
+  })
+
+  it('preserves headings, marked text, and nested blocks', () => {
+    const editor = createEditor({
+      type: 'doc',
+      content: [
+        { type: 'heading', attrs: { level: 2 }, content: [{ type: 'text', text: '[[]]' }] },
+        {
+          type: 'paragraph',
+          content: [{ type: 'text', text: '[literal]', marks: [{ type: 'bold' }] }]
+        },
+        {
+          type: 'bulletList',
+          content: [{ type: 'listItem', content: [paragraph('[literal](./a)')] }]
+        }
+      ]
+    })
+    try {
+      expectReopens(editor)
+    } finally {
+      editor.destroy()
+    }
+  })
+})
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/components/editor/rich-markdown-literal-serialization.ts b/src/renderer/src/components/editor/rich-markdown-literal-serialization.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..d294bec3e06
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/renderer/src/components/editor/rich-markdown-literal-serialization.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+import type { Editor, JSONContent } from '@tiptap/core'
+import type { Node as ProseMirrorNode } from '@tiptap/pm/model'
+import { encodeRawMarkdownHtmlForRichEditor } from './raw-markdown-html'
+import type { RichMarkdownEditorCodec } from './rich-markdown-source-transport'
+
+function withoutOptionalEscapes(markdown: string): string {
+  return markdown.replace(/\\([\\_[\]])/g, (escaped, character) =>
+    character === '\\' ? escaped : character
+  )
+}
+
+export function preserveLiteralMarkdownSource(
+  editor: Editor,
+  codec: RichMarkdownEditorCodec,
+  htmlSuperscriptLinks: boolean
+): void {
+  const manager = editor.markdown!
+  const render = manager.renderNodeToMarkdown.bind(manager)
+  const serialize = editor.getMarkdown.bind(editor)
+  const cache = new WeakMap<ProseMirrorNode, { markdown: string; result: string }>()
+  let blocks: Map<JSONContent, ProseMirrorNode> | undefined
+
+  manager.renderNodeToMarkdown = (node, ...args) => {
+    const markdown = render(node, ...args)
+    const block = blocks?.get(node)
+    if (!block || !/\\[[\]]/.test(markdown)) {
+      return markdown
+    }
+    const cached = cache.get(block)
+    if (cached?.markdown === markdown) {
+      return cached.result
+    }
+    const candidate = withoutOptionalEscapes(markdown)
+    let result = markdown
+    try {
+      const parsed = manager.parse(
+        encodeRawMarkdownHtmlForRichEditor(candidate, codec, { htmlSuperscriptLinks })
+      )
+      // Every mark, attribute and text position must survive reopening this block.
+      if (parsed.content?.length === 1 && editor.schema.nodeFromJSON(parsed.content[0]).eq(block)) {
+        result = candidate
+      }
+    } catch {
+      // Keep the upstream escaped output when a custom parser cannot prove equivalence.
+    }
+    cache.set(block, { markdown, result })
+    return result
+  }
+
+  editor.getMarkdown = () => {
+    const markdown = serialize()
+    if (!/\\[[\]]/.test(markdown)) {
+      return markdown
+    }
+    // Reference definitions can change inline meaning across block boundaries.
+    if (/^ {0,3}\[[^\n]*\]:/m.test(withoutOptionalEscapes(markdown))) {
+      return markdown
+    }
+    const json = editor.getJSON()
+    blocks = new Map()
+    json.content?.forEach((node, index) => {
+      if (node.type === 'paragraph' || node.type === 'heading') {
+        blocks!.set(node, editor.state.doc.child(index))
+      }
+    })
+    try {
+      return manager.serialize(json)
+    } finally {
+      blocks = undefined
+    }
+  }
+}